


It's Way Beyond Ice Cream

by nekojita



Series: Ice Cream AU [1]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, Ice Cream Shop AU, M/M, Mentions of past abuse, aftgsummerexchange, allison still is in the know, andrew and his lousy flirting techniques, few changes here, hints at neil's background, little bit soft?, neil and renee are friends, neil and renee in witsec, not quite so oblivious neil, pre-Andreil - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-15
Updated: 2018-07-15
Packaged: 2019-06-11 02:32:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15305487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nekojita/pseuds/nekojita
Summary: Fic for the AFTG Summer Exchange - Neil's doing his best as a new freshman at PSU, helped by Renee as he navigates life as a normal 'person'. That includes classes and studying, and dealing with a certain stubborn employee at the local ice cream shop who seems to delight in messing up his order each time he goes there for some unknown reason....Of course Allison and Renee will eventually explain what's going on to him (and help poor Andrew out).





	It's Way Beyond Ice Cream

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Blurredmxnds](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blurredmxnds/gifts).



> Okay, this fic is for blurredmxnds - ice cream shop au. Hope it's somewhat what you had in mind! I always wonder if I ever get the season thing down, let alone the whole prompt....
> 
> Background for the fic - in a world where there's no Exy but still Nathan as the Butcher/Moriyamas as criminals, Neil/Nathaniel/Alex made the call to the FBI after Mary's death and ended up in WitSec, and eventually at PSU. The rest of the Foxes are there, but not so closely tied together (hence why several of them are vaguely mentioned in the fic). Renee also ended up in WitSec for turning evidence against her gang (slight twist there), so you have a bond between Neil and Renee.
> 
> Andrew's past is largely the same, Nicky is in Germany (can't see him sticking around unless a sport's scholarship), but isn't on drugs and isn't forced to play Exy. Aaron's around on campus. 
> 
> No warnings in the fic other than mentions of Neil's life with Mary and vague references to his past (very vague).  
> *******

*******

Neil groaned a little as he left the library with Renee, his body stiff from sitting for so long. “Thanks, I think I have a grasp on the paper now.”

She smiled at him, the expression genuine and pleased as always; he was still getting used to the young woman who was one of the older students on campus and due to graduate at the end of that year, still a little leery about the hints of darkness he caught in her brown eyes from time to time. After all, he knew there had to be a reason why she was in WitSec as well, why Browning had allowed him to attend PSU and arranged for the two of them to meet up (had asked Renee to help Neil settle in on campus)… but Renee was so earnest in being his friend (his first real one) that Neil wasn’t willing to bring up any bad memories by asking about her past.

He was doing his best to deal with his own, after all.

“Once you have the general format down, you’ll do fine for the rest of the semester,” she assured him. “It’s just knowing what the professor expects and having a solid argument.” Her smile brightened as she gave him a gentle nudge on the left shoulder. “You’re good at arguing, I’m learning.”

He grimaced at that as he wiped at the sweat on his forehead. “Gee, thanks. Hmm, it’s hot today, do you want an iced coffee or something as thanks for helping to save my grade?” After the last year or so holed up in Enterprise, Oregon, he was having some difficulty adjusting to the heat and humidity of South Carolina.

As always, Renee appeared unaffected by the heat (by most things), dressed in a long, pale pink halter dress with a white lace sweater on top that echoed her bleached-white hair with the pastel tips. “Maybe some ice cream? I feel in the mood for some ice cream,” she insisted. “That way I can take some to Allison.” There was a hint of color on her cheeks when she mentioned her friend’s name.

He waited to see if she said anything else then nodded. “Okay.” He wasn’t the biggest fan of ice cream but wouldn’t complain about something cold just then as a trickle of sweat ran down his spine.

Fortunately, the shop wasn’t too far from the library or Neil’s dorm room (he passed it all the time on his morning runs) and appeared popular with other PSU students. Neil and Renee waited in line for a couple of minutes while several people rushed about behind the coolers to complete their orders. When it was their turn, Renee greeted a blank-faced young man who was even shorter than Neil by name (Andrew) and asked for some sort of frozen yogurt smoothie to take back to Allison and a small sundae before turning to Neil so he could order.

“A single scoop of orange sherbet,” Neil told Andrew as he realized that he’d seen the short blond at the campus gym a few times since the start of the semester, usually working with the weights while Neil ran on the treadmill.

Andrew gazed back at him in an impassive manner for several seconds before he clicked his tongue. “No orange sherbet today, pick something else.”

Neil frowned at that. “But it’s right _there_.” He pointed off to the one side cooler and the huge tub of almost neon orange ice cream inside of it.

“It’s expired, someone was just about to throw it out,” Andrew told him in a flat manner, his hazel eyes never looking away from Neil. “Pick something else.”

“It looks perfectly-“

“I’ll pick it, then. $16.75. _Next_ ,” Andrew called out as he glanced at the waiting line behind Neil.

“But I don’t want something el-“

“Move it, short-stuff,” the guy behind Neil insisted, face flushed from the heat and PSU t-shirt damp from sweat. “You heard what he said.”

Neil gritted his teeth as he pulled out his wallet to pay for the damn ice cream (which he didn’t even want anymore) while Renee gave him an apologetic smile. Some tall guy with spiky hair smiled at him as he rang up the order and handed over the ice cream – the sundae and smoothie for Renee, and some bowl filled with something brown and chunky. “What is that?” Neil asked with grave misgiving.

“Ah, death by chocolate,” the guy – Matt, according to his badge – said.

Neil sighed as he wondered why Renee couldn’t just go for a damn iced coffee.

She apologized once they were outside and offered to pay for everything as she handed him a few bucks for Allison’s smoothie, which he turned down. “You’re cheaper than tutoring,” he insisted – that and he got a small allowance from WitSec as well as worked a few hours a week shelving books at the library for his work study job.

That and he hadn’t told the FBI about _all_ of the money his mother had stolen from his father before he’d made that call after she’d died.

He took one bite of the chocolate mess slowly melting in the cup and grimaced from the overwhelming sweetness. “Gah. How do you know Andrew?” he asked after he scraped his teeth over his tongue, determined to throw the ice cream away at sight of the first trash can.

“Hmm, I’m not sure about ‘know’, but we work out sometimes in the ring,” Renee explained as she made a jabbing motion with the hand which held Allison’s smoothie, which Neil took to mean that Andrew also did kickboxing. “He’s pretty good, if a bit rough around the edges.”

Neil thought about Andrew sprawled out on a weight bench, a slight look of concentration on his face as his muscular arms flexed and broad shoulders heaved to lift a bar full of multiple fifty-pound weights, and felt the heat really hit him for some reason. “Ah, okay.” Then he shook his head. “But he’s an asshole for not giving me the ice cream I wanted.”

“Yes, that was interesting.” Renee regarded Neil for several seconds with her head cocked to the side and something bright in her almond-shaped eyes before a mysterious smile tugged at the corners of her lips. “Interesting indeed. See you on Tuesday?”

“Yeah, if you don’t mind.” He was off to a great start with his Statistics and Spanish classes (considering his major and minor), but spending so many years on the run meant that he still had a shaky grasp on the ‘basics’ like English and History. If he managed to get good grades in those classes, it was going to be in large part because of Renee.

It was a new beginning for Neil, was a chance for him to leave the past behind (to leave _Nathaniel Wesninski_ behind), and he refused to mess things up even if he struggled with some of his classes and living in the dorms (at least he had a single room to himself), in dealing with so many new things. He was used to adapting after all those years of constantly moving to new cities and new countries with his mother as they ran from his abusive, crime lord father – but he’d had his mother at his side the entire time.

It was more difficult than he’d thought it would be, being by himself. Being out in the real world on his own after her death, after a year holed up in some tiny town while the FBI drilled him for every last detail and bit of knowledge he possessed so they could put Nathan Wesninski away for good (or forty-one consecutive life sentences, at least), could tear apart the bastard’s criminal empire.

At least Neil had Renee and sort of Allison, even if she insisted on taking him out shopping for new clothes all of the time. There were a few people in his classes or at the library who talked about going out for coffee or drinks or to movies, but old habits were difficult to break and he wasn’t sure if he trusted doing things with strangers.

So he attended classes and his work study hours, did his morning runs and time at the gym to burn off nervous energy (and seemed to realize how often Andrew was there at the same time, how much weight the other young man could lift and his broad shoulders and impressive pecs and – and Neil may have almost lost it on the treadmill that afternoon), and his study sessions with Renee.

It was more of a ‘life’, of a routine than he’d ever had before and he enjoyed it.

Except for the fact that Renee seemed to have developed a sweet-tooth all of a sudden and insisted that they go for ice cream after their study sessions, her treat of course. Something Neil would object to, someone paying for him, except that he _never_ got his damn orange sherbet.

_Never._

“There’s half a container right in front of me,” he insisted as he gazed at Andrew. “ _Right. There_.”

“That cooler isn’t working today, I’ll give you something else,” Andrew said before he rattled off the price and told Neil and Renee to move along.

“You just scooped out the, uhm… whatever the blue stuff is next to it,” Neil accused the lying bastard on Thursday. “The cooler is fine today!”

“Matt sneezed on the sherbet, it’s not acceptable to serve,” Andrew told him with a straight face. Well, to be fair, his face was always like that and he was one of the best liars Neil had ever come across, which was impressive. “Try the bacon maple today.”

“But I don’t _want_ the bacon-“

“Come on,” Renee urged him, as always mindful of others, “people are waiting.”

Neil vented once they were outside after their fifth visit. “What the hell flavor is ‘superman’?” he demanded to know as he held up some monstrous, multicolored mess in his cup. “Why can’t he just give me what I asked for, huh?”

Renee treated him with a pitying look before she shook her head, her pastel-tipped hair fanning out before it settled in sleek strands (Neil didn’t know how she managed that, considering all the bleach and dyeing – he regularly dyed his hair black and it was a tangled mess, which was fine as long as it wasn’t _red_ , but still…). “Maybe he’s trying to expand your horizons a little?”

“What happened to the customer always being right?”

Renee smiled at that and shrugged. “I don’t think Andrew’s big on customer service.”

Neil thought about the blank stares, the lack of emotion and flat, deep voice, how Andrew always wore a plain black t-shirt (with black armguards which he was certain contained a knife or two) while his coworkers wore bright orange shirts with the store’s Fox logo on it and had to agree.

Why did he think so much about Andrew?

“Uhm… I just want orange sherbet,” he said in a weak voice.

“Then we can go to the grocery store,” Renee said with that knowing manner of hers which he found annoying at times, but not so annoying that he wanted to risk his GPA.

Instead, he sighed and held up the latest offending cup of ice cream. “What the hell is this?”

“Just throw it out and let’s go talk to Allison,” she told him.

Like that made it any better.

They went to Renee’s dorm room, and it wasn’t much of a surprise when Allison Reynolds arrived a few minutes later (it seemed that Renee’s roommate, Dan Wilds, was off… somewhere). Neil had heard a rumor that Allison was from some rich ( _very rich_ ) family and had basically been disowned because she insisted on living her own life, on being a fashion designer who relied on her own merit as much as possible rather than go to some Ivy League university and coast on the family connections.

He didn’t think she’d been cut off from the money entirely, but he still had to give her credit in going to a public university and making her own way, in building ‘buzz’ (he wasn’t entirely clueless) with the designs she created herself and wore around campus, in standing on her own. She still had the Reynolds name and some money, but considering his background (even if it was ‘blood money’), he knew it would be so much easier if she’d kowtowed to her parents.

Allison wasn’t the type to kowtow to _anyone_. Well, except perhaps a certain someone with rainbow-tipped hair and a smile tinged with darkness, but the more Neil knew Renee, the more he had to admit that she was special and Allison wasn’t a fool (okay, he was beginning to suspect that _something_ was going on between the two young women).

He sat in Renee’s room on a Sunday night (he had a History paper to turn in the next morning) that she read over while Allison fussed with his hair. “You need a trim,” she insisted while he did his best not to react, his hands clenched into fists at his sides.

“It’s fine.”

“No, it’s not ‘fine’,” Allison snapped, her blue eyes narrowed as she glared down at him; her long blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail and she was dressed in an outfit that was probably expensive as hell – fitted blue jeans, a thin, white cotton shirt and tan heels. “You need a trim and a conditioning treatment. I’m going to schedule something next weekend.”

“Allison,” Renee murmured from where she sat at her desk.

“What? He’s new on campus and going around looking like he’s homeless.” The two stared at each other until Allison threw her manicured hands into the air. “Fine, I’ll schedule something when he agrees,” she rephrased and glared at Neil until he sighed and gave in. “ _But_ we’ll go shopping for new clothes tomorrow.”

“Mine are fine,” he insisted.

“If you’re a _homeless_ person. No,” she snapped. “I’m not giving up on this. You need something other than the same five outfits you’ve worn so far this semester!”

Dammit, if she knew how many outfits he owned after only a few weeks, she may have a point. “They’re fine.”

“No, they’re _not_ ,” Allison snapped. “They’re worn and too big and look ready to fall apart at any moment. We’re going to get you something that’ll make you blend in better,” she insisted, as if knowing what buttons to push. “I bet a certain blond midget will appreciate the change.”

“Hmm.” Neil jerked upright when those words sunk in. “’Blond midget’? Who are you talking about?”

Allison rolled her eyes as she flicked her fingers through his overlong bangs. “Really? You haven’t figured out the whole ice cream thing yet?”

“ _Allison_ ,” Renee murmured again, only with a rare hint of heat.

“No, this has gone on long enough,” Allison insisted as she fisted her hands on her slim hips. “Why do you think Minyard’s been tormenting you for so long?” she asked Neil. “Pulling his second-grade dating techniques and all?”

Neil gazed at her and wondered if perhaps all the languages he knew were getting jumbled in his head, something which happened from time to time when he was confused or too tired. “Eh?”

Allison stared at him for a couple of seconds before rolling her eyes and flicking him in the middle of his forehead. “Oh my god, if you weren’t _utterly_ adorable I would… _he likes you_.”

Yeah, that still didn’t make any sense, so Neil turned toward Renee. “Is she speaking English? Am I?” He frowned and switched to French to ask the same question again and earned another forehead flick. “ _Ow_!”

“Yes, I’m speaking English, dammit,” Allison snapped while Renee giggled. “Stop being a smart-ass even if it is rather hot, you talking in French.”

“Stop tormenting him, Allie,” Renee insisted as she got up to stand in front of Neil in a protective manner. “And I’m afraid that she’s right,” she told Neil. “I think Andrew’s trying to get your attention and he’s not… well, I don’t think he’s had much experience on how to flirt with people,” she explained to Neil, who sat there in stunned silence. “Neil?” she asked after a few seconds.

“ _Eh_?” he finally managed to ask as he thought about Andrew (those muscles and hazel eyes and deep voice and the heat and-) and _like_.

“Oh hell, I think we fried his circuits,” Allison said as she peered over Renee’s right shoulder. “Do you even _like_ boys?”

Neil’s cheeks heated up at the question, as he thought about the couple of girls he’d kissed and his mother’s reaction and… he rubbed at his face before he answered. “Uhm… I’m not sure?” he admitted. “I don’t… I don’t swing but….”

Renee picked up on his hesitation and offered him an encouraging smile. “You don’t, but… it’s okay to be uncertain or to not know where you fall on things. You don’t have to feel like you’ve one inclination or another,” she told him. “Not until you feel truly comfortable.”

He appreciated her reassurance, he did (especially after his mother’s harsh slaps and hair pulls and stark orders), but it was more than that. “Uhm… it’s just….” It was that whenever Andrew was around, he found his attention drawn to the blond in a way that had never happened before.

Allison seemed to understand his confusion. “Hah, I think that perhaps _Minyard’s_ attraction isn’t one-sided, no?” She grinned when Neil felt his cheeks burn even more. “Bingo!” she cheered while Renee chided her to be quiet. “Look, he’s not my first pick for you – too surly, short and knife-happy, but to each their own, right? But you’ve got to start somewhere, Dimples,” she said while she tapped Neil on the nose. “And I know that my Renee here can kick Minyard’s ass if he gives you any grief.”

“Violence doesn’t solve anything,” Renee murmured.

“Tell me you won’t kick the midget’s ass if he breaks our Dimples’ heart,” Allison challenged, and grinned when there was a flash of that disturbing darkness in Renee’s eyes. “Yeah, I thought so.”

“Why am I ‘Dimples’?” Neil asked in a plaintive manner, only to sigh when Allison cupped his face between his hands and grinned in a demonic manner. “Never mind.” It wasn’t like he couldn’t handle things himself, either.

“So clueless and adorable. Now come on, we’re going shopping,” she commanded before dragging him out of the room.

Neil had given up a life on the run for _this_?

At least Renee managed to keep Allison somewhat under control, and her out of the changing room so he could hide his scars while he tried on some new shorts (for some reason she refused to allow him his usual jean shorts) and t-shirts. They were more form fitting and colorful than he preferred, but both Renee and Allison beamed in approval when he stepped out in them.

“It’s what everyone else on campus is wearing,” Renee told him when Allison went to find some more shirts. “They’ll help you blend in better than you are now.”

Neil went still at first, the lessons learned from his mother fighting with what his friend was telling him for several seconds before he nodded. When Allison came back, he picked several of the less ostentatious t-shirts and shorts to buy (going halves with Allison after a few minutes’ debate).

He was dressed in one of the new outfits (grey shorts and a pale blue shirt with white stripes across the chest) when he and Renee returned to the ice cream shop on Tuesday. It was another hot day, making him long for summer to finally give way to fall, and when it was his turn to order, he sighed to see that there wasn’t even a tub of orange sherbet for Andrew to make up some ludicrous excuse to ignore that day.

“Look, what is it going to take for me to get something that’s not ridiculous today,” he outright pleaded with Andrew. “I like orange sherbet because I really don’t like anything too sweet, and no, the bacon thing was horrible.”

Andrew seemed to weight that for several seconds despite the line behind Neil. “Anything?” he asked as he regarded Neil with a considering look.

“Anything,” Neil agreed as he felt the damn heat creep over his face and Renee smiled next to him, her right hand raised to partially cover her lips.

“Hmm.” Andrew tilted his head to the side, a rare light in his hazel eyes as he gazed at the myriad tubs of ice cream laid before him. “Your phone number.” He spoke the words with a hint of sarcasm as if waiting to be shot down.

“All right,” Neil agreed without any hesitation. “Do you have anything for me to write it down on?”

Andrew’s eyebrows shot up as in surprise, and when Neil continued to look at him, clicked his tongue. “I’ll meet you at the register,” he said in his usual bored tone, but there was _definitely_ a spark of interest in his eyes.

“Okay.” Neil did his best to ignore the fluttering in his stomach as he shuffled down the line (along with Renee beaming at him with pride) as other customers called out their orders.

“That’s really brave of you,” Renee assured him. “I don’t think you’ll regret this.”

He wanted to tell her that he already was, that it was a mistake to even think of… of what? To let someone not in WitSec close, to potentially date someone and pretend to be normal and- His mother would tell him that he was being stupid and a fool and putting everything at risk.

Yet Renee was obviously moving forward with Allison, was determined to have some sort of life and WitSec wasn’t stepping in to prevent things. She even was encouraging him to do the same.

What was the point of calling the FBI, of leaving that beach where he’d buried his mother’s body, of leaving Nathaniel Wesninski behind and everything tied to that detested name if he didn’t try to build some sort of future? Maybe all he’d get out of giving Andrew Minyard his phone number was a decent cup of ice cream, maybe not… but Neil was tired of living a half-life.

He wanted to explore why for the first time ever he looked at a person and felt his heart race and face heat up and tongue stick to the roof of his mouth. Somehow he doubted it was from the summer’s lingering heat.

So when Andrew handed him a pen and paper, he wrote down a phone number that (other than some FBI agents) only two other people knew and slid it across the counter in exchange for some white looking dessert with fresh berries on top of it. “Fresh cream,” Andrew told him. “It shouldn’t be too sweet.”

“Okay.” Neil summoned up a smile that lasted until Andrew all of a sudden spun around and stalked away. “Uhm….”

“Oh that went well,” Renee insisted as she picked up her yogurt smoothie. “I bet he calls you as soon as his shift ends.”

“Really?” Neil wasn’t certain about that, especially when Andrew snapped at a customer to hurry up and decide on something.

“ _Really_ ,” Renee insisted.

“But he didn’t seem happy there,” Neil said as he stirred his ice cream.

“That’s just Andrew, he doesn’t like being obvious about his feelings.” She gazed at him while she sipped her smoothie. “How’s your ice cream?”

He took a wary spoonful of it and was pleasantly surprised – as Andrew had said, it wasn’t too sweet for once, was similar to the clotted cream and berries Neil had back in Europe (well, maybe a touch sweeter, but bearable). “It’s good.”

Renee’s smile took on a knowing edge. “I’m sure he seemed overbearing the last couple of weeks, but I bet he was trying to learn about you each time he came up with a new flavor. He wouldn’t have done that unless he was really interested. He’ll call right away, trust me.”

Neil refused to get his hopes up. “We’ll see.”

“He will, Allison’s already bet on it and she’s never loses important wagers. She’s also got an outfit ready for your first date.” Renee laughed at Neil’s pained grimace at the news. “It’ll work out, you’ll see.”

He wasn’t so sure about that, but it was difficult to remain doubtful in the face of Renee’s cheer and certainty. They walked back to the dorms with her offering encouragement the entire way, the ice cream helping to offset the heat and humidity, and Neil jumped into the shower once back in his room.

As usual, he had a lot of homework to do for the next day so he focused on that, and had just finished his English assignment when his phone rang. At first he almost ignored it since he didn’t recognize the number until he remembered about Andrew, and then he nearly dropped the phone in his haste to answer it. “Ah, hello?”

“How was the ice cream?”

“Uhm, it was good.” Neil frowned as he attempted to figure out if that was the way a conversation should go, until he decided he really didn’t have enough experience to know for certain. “How was work?”

“Too busy and too many demanding assholes,” Andrew said in his usual deadpan manner.

“Okay.” Neil chewed on his bottom lip for a moment. “Why do you work there, then?”

“Free ice cream and close to campus, plus decent wage and benefits. Wymack’s a bleeding heart when it comes to his employees.”

“Ah.” Neil didn’t consider free ice cream as a ‘perk’ but guess that some people might. “I work in the library. Makes it easy to check out stuff for classes.”

“That’s not an easy job to get.” Andrew was quiet for a moment as if waiting for Neil to say something (which he couldn’t, considering that Browning and Town had helped to set up everything on campus for him), then clicked his tongue. “What do you for fun then, other than run nowhere?”

It took Neil a moment to realize that Andrew was referring to him working out on the treadmill, and he relaxed back on the bed as he talked about his morning runs and classes, about being a freshman new to the area with no family or friends nearby.

Andrew didn’t press for many details nor offered up too many of his own, which made Neil relax more and more; he figured that he’d have to provide additional information at some point (that he was newly orphaned and been home-schooled for years, the story that went along with his ‘Neil Josten’ profile), yet Andrew made things easy – easy enough that he agreed to meeting up on Friday.

It was only when he ended the call that he realized that he’d basically agreed to a ‘date’ and began to panic. He was going out with another person, another guy, a guy with broad shoulders and a handsome face and deep voice which drew Neil’s attention and-

Oh hell, it was a _date_.

He _hated_ it when Allison was right.

(Though not so much when in regards to Andrew, it seemed.)

*******

**Author's Note:**

> I hope it was okay? A bit of summer (mostly summer) semi-fluff?
> 
> And the title comes from an actual ice cream slogan... (gotta love google).
> 
> Now to try to get another chapter of RP done in the next week or two....
> 
> As always, kudos and comments appreciated!


End file.
